Taliban: Plural

It didn’t sound right to me. It hit me all at once — isn’t Taliban supposed to be the plural form?

I wasn’t sure, so I looked it up in the AP Stylebook. (Say what you want about the AP — it’s the preferred style for journalism.)

Taliban: Extreme Islamic Movement that ruled Afghanistan until driven out by U.S.-led coalition after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Arabic for religious students, it takes a plural verb. The singular is Talib.

The sentence should read, Taliban deny release of S Korean hostages.

It’s funny, but I swore I saw a headline on CNN.com today that had used Taliban in the singular sense. I just checked it again, and there was nothing.

As of 2007, the Taliban are still a dangerous force in Afghanistan, but I am hopeful that the organization will not last.

10 responses to “Taliban: Plural”

Those collective forms are tricky. I say, “the people are ready for a fundamental change,” but I’m not sure that it is considered to be correct. I seem to remember politicians saying in speeches, “the American people is …” Maybe it’s one of those British/American things. Spanish is clear on this: a singular subject, even if it is a collective noun, always takes a takes a singular verb: La gente es … I would have never even picked up on “the Taliban is …” Muy interesante.

“Media” is tricky because it is an unusual plural. A final “-s” usually marks a word as plural in English, but media is the Latin plural of medium, so for me it’s understandable that we think of it as being singular. I think that’s what’s up with Taliban: the lack of a final “-s” throws us off.

This is one of your better posts, Kate. I think these collective forms are very tricky, especially when the word is borrowed from another language. Who know that -an was the indicator of a plural in … Pashto, is it?

However, references to the American Talib might cause more confusion than being strictly correct is worth. Again, the point of grammar, indeed the entire point of language, is clear communication.

You’re closer to understanding the purpose of the AP Style Guide. However, if you’re going to criticize the Xinhua News Agency, you should check out the Xinhua Style Guide. (Granted, that isn’t available to the public, because as much of it is about the proper way to refer to controversial issues (like Tibet or Taiwan) as it is about style and usage.

If you’re interested in the Xinhua New Agency, there’s an excellent anonymous blog about being a foreigner working for its sister English-language China Daily in Beijing. He was only there for a year, so it’s worth starting at the beginning and reading it through to the end. He has a snapshot of the Xinhua style guide in this post.